Generally steel cord layers acting as tensile bodies are internally incorporated in rubber crawlers. From the perspective of durability, such steel cord layers normally have a structure of a single rubber covered steel cord wound in a spiral shape.
However, in spiral structure steel cord layers, the steel cord extends at an angle with respect to the crawler circumferential direction, such that shear deformation occurs in response to tension in the crawler circumferential direction due to anisotropic elasticity of the steel cord layer.
The rubber crawler, trained around the wheels of a machine body under a specific tension, is affected by the shear deformation of the steel cord layer and deforms, resulting in slippage in the crawler width direction (referred to below as “lateral slippage” where appropriate) as the crawler revolves (circulates) between the wheels on which it is trained.
Frequently encountered measures for suppressing lateral slippage of the rubber crawler include adjusting the attachment of the wheels (wheel alignment), providing the rubber crawler with guide projections that guide the rotation direction of the wheels, providing a bias cord layer that undergoes shear deformation in a direction to cancel out the shear deformation of the steel cord layer, and the like.
A rubber crawler described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. H08-320051 suppresses lateral slippage during travel by configuring the angle with respect to the crawler circumferential direction of steel cord in a steel cord layer in left-right reversed directions on either side of a crawler center line.